Cuomo on Collins, Post Indictment

Gov. Andrew Cuomo addressed the federal charges brought against Rep. Chris Collins during a press conference today New York City.

“After yesterday, should he resign or not? You know, that’s up to him, but I didn’t think he was capable of representing the interest of his district before yesterday,” the governor said.

Cuomo and Collins have had a series of highly public battles over the past year or so. They sparred over a number of topics, but the governor’s most regular criticism of the congressman had to do with the Republican lawmaker’s support for the federal tax reform bill, which, among other things, capped the deductibility of state and local taxes (also known as “SALT”).

Cuomo brought the issue up again today as a reason he feels Collins is unfit to hold office.

“He consistently put his political affiliation ahead of the people of his district,” the governor said. “Consistently. The tax bill hurt New York State directly, and it had a penalty for New York State and 11 other states that no other states had. How as a Congress person do you justify voting for a bill that disproportionately hurts your state? How do you do that?”

Cuomo, a former state attorney general, also addressed the specific charges brought separately against the congressman by the U.S. attorney and the SEC.

While Collins faces eleven counts, including conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud, Cuomo suggested that at the very least, the allegation he made false statements to the FBI would be difficult to contest.

“They are very, very serious and lying to the FBI is a fairly straightforward charge, not a lot of nuance to it,” he said. “It doesn’t get into the underlying facts. It just gets into the representation made to the FBI. From his point of view I think it’s a highly problematic charge.”

It’s no secret that Cuomo would very much like to see Collins defeated, though even with the charges against him, that could prove difficult, given the fact that the district is the most GOP-dominated in the entire state.

The governor earlier this year floated the idea of having his lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul, challenge Collins – a sort of re-match for Hochul since Collins ousted her from the seat she had won in a special election.

But it was widely speculated Cuomo really had his own political best interests in mind, and a desire to replace Hochul with a candidate who might have better ticket balancing capabilities. But Hochul stood her ground, and refused to be pushed aside, saying she wanted to seek re-election as LG and wasn’t interested in returning to D.C.